Thirty years after its publication, the Elhuyar Dictionary remains a reference, and data from 2025 show this: more than 75 million queries were made. In these thirty years, in addition to updating the entries, the acceptances and the examples of the dictionary, the way of consulting them has also changed radically. We have gone from having physical dictionaries, on paper, to carrying out consultations on mobile, tablet and computer: the mobile application has been downloaded more than 100,000 times and the web has an average of 150,000 weekly visits.

The usage data demonstrate the importance and referentiality of the project. Behind the Elhuyar Dictionary there is a group of specialists who are responsible for analysing comprehensively the entries, examples and observations of the dictionary to apply the relevant changes. In addition, our website (hiztegiak.elhuyar.eus), apart from the dictionary, offers recommendations for using Basque (#ElhuyarrenGomendioak), tools to help you write in Basque (Idazlagun) and games to review and improve language skills (#HitzJolasa).

The dictionary is constantly updated. In 2025, nearly 2,800 entries in the three bilingual dictionaries (Euskera-Spanish, Euskera-French and Euskera-English) were updated. Of these, some 2,000 are new entries and another 800 entries have been modified or completed in order to improve the quality and usefulness of the dictionary.

To make these updates, the Elhuyar Dictionary uses various sources. It takes into account, among others, the updates made in the dictionary of Euskaltzaindia, the comments and proposals of the users, as well as the new terms and uses that appear both in the media and in other publications, and that are identified through the linguistic technologies developed by Elhuyar.

On the other hand, in order to promote an egalitarian language in the Elhuyar Dictionary, the updates of 2025 worked especially on the gender perspective, to ensure the non-discriminatory use of the lexicon.

30 years since the first Elhuyar Dictionary

Thirty years have passed since the first bilingual dictionary, Euskera-Castellano, was published by Elhuyar, which began in 1996 and has become an essential tool for those who use Euskera or are learning it. The Elhuyar Dictionary has been able to adapt to the situation and the technologies of each moment; in the first edition, together with the paper edition, it was offered in CD-ROM format. In 1999, the dictionary was made available on the Internet: the online portal was launched, and the dictionary was made available to all users. Next, the French-Basque (2004) and English-Basque (2007) dictionaries were published, and they are now all available on a single website: hiztegiak.elhuyar.eus. In addition, in 2011 the application of dictionaries was developed to be consulted on mobile devices and similar, and in 2023 the desktop application for Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems.

In these thirty years, in addition to updating the entries, the acceptances and the examples of the dictionary, the way of consulting them has also changed radically. The project has been continuously transformed over the years, and will continue along this path, always adapting to the needs of society.